Genius
by Frackinawesomeninja
Summary: This is something like a character study for 2012 Avengers' Tony Stark and how he's misjudged.


A/N: I've been watching the Marvel movies and I just felt nostalgic for a simpler time so I wrote this.

Tony Stark was an ass.

Every single person who spoke to him seemed to understand this after one conversation. He jumped around subjects, talked like he was smarter than everyone around him, and took any chance he had to put someone in their place. That's what people thought. People who knew him would say different, defend him, but it was a hard argument to win.

Natasha Romanoff was one of the first to know better among his teammates, even if it was originally in her work spying on him. She had watched him talk too much, point out his intelligence, and make others look like idiots. But the longer she watched, the more she realized it wasn't meant the way it came off. He spoke that way to anyone, even his friends, but they seemed to take it in stride. His interactions with Happy and Pepper had shown her that he wasn't an ass just for fun, or even on purpose. It was obvious how deeply he cared about them if one paid more attention to his actions than his excessive words. She had also learned more about him through files, but she didn't disclose her findings to anyone else. Tony seemed comfortable with how he was perceived.

Tony's difficulties playing well with others didn't matter until New York. He worked solo and didn't need to be cooperative to be successful. Then aliens attacked, and he made teammates. They weren't friends yet, just people he had fought beside. No matter their relation though, Tony felt a need to invite them to live in his newly fixed tower, knowing most of them lacked permanent living situations anyway. However kind and generous this offer was, Tony made no attempt to get recognition for this. He didn't seem to think it was deserved.

So life went on, most of the Avengers still assuming Tony Stark to just be an ass. Bruce Banner knew different. He knew from the first meeting that for all of Tony's grandeur, he wasn't actually the man he seemed. Any person who could look at him without fear, seemingly with complete trust and even admiration, couldn't be that bad. Of course, Bruce wasn't his own biggest fan, but Tony was immediately accepting and trying to help him, even if it came off as annoying or pushy. The more time Tony and Bruce spent working in the lab, one of the few times Tony wasn't talking incessantly, the more Bruce saw the real Tony, and saw how much he cared.

Clint Barton learned about the great Tony Stark mostly through limited interaction during battle and Nat. She described him as pompous, arrogant, and brilliant. She also, though, made sure to mention that she could see Stark had good intentions behind all of his actions. Barton wasn't sure what to make of the fast-talking genius, but felt nothing negative towards the man.

Thor saw his brother in the man of iron. Stark was smooth talking and deathly intelligent. He was also hiding pain that Thor could not understand, but saw it nonetheless. To Thor, Stark seemed almost like a child, so similar to his own little brother that he could not help but feel an affection for the man who didn't seem to fit in anywhere on this strange planet.

Steve Roger's mind was made up on Tony Stark after their first real conversation in the lab. He didn't like Tony. He was arrogant, selfish, self-aggrandizing, the list could go on. He was a man whose confidence seemed to know no bounds. He was smarter than everyone around and wanted them to know it constantly, which Steve couldn't stand. Having met the man's father, Tony didn't live up. Howard was kind and brave and a good friend. Steve struggled to find any of this in the man in front of him. He spoke too fast, like he was trying to confuse everyone and was proud that he could.

Following the battle, Steve's respect for Tony grew slightly. That didn't change the fact that he didn't like the man. Respected or not, he was still rude and proud, both things that bothered Steve to no end. Steve made no attempts to hide his feelings, but wasn't vocal or aggressive. It was simply clear to everyone else in the tower that Steve didn't like him, even if they all did.

They were having a group conversation about a battle they had fought yesterday against some kind of robots. They were odd and complicated, even causing the resident scientists to question them and their purpose. The team was discussing possible motives and how they possibly worked when Tony took over the conversation. He rambled at a million miles a minute, shooting down everyone's posed guesses concisely as he thought through his own possibilities. He seemed to nearly forget they were there except to make them sound stupid for not noticing obvious issues with their suggestions. After talking for longer than anyone cared to keep track of, he turned on his heel and headed to his lab without a word. Steve watched him go, sighing in frustration. Thor turned a quizzical brow at him, having stared at the genius in fascination at his mind. Steve shook his head before responding to his unspoken question.

"I just don't understand why he has to speak to us like we're idiots," he grumbled rubbing his forehead without looking at his other teammates.

The soft voice of Dr. Banner spoke up, "He doesn't mean to Cap." Steve looked at the man like he had grown two heads for suggesting that Tony Stark did anything without intent.

This time it was Natasha's clear and confident voice that drew his attention. "Tony Stark is many things, but he is not the kind of man to listen to suggestions and argue them if he thinks the people he's speaking to are stupid."

"Then why does he talk like he knows everything and knows better than everyone else?" Steve asked petulantly, still sure that Stark was as rude as he assumed.

Steve was surprised Barton answered him. "I mean, first of all, because he does." Steve huffed out a breath of irritation. "I don't know if you've read his file, but Tony Stark might quite literally be the smartest man in the world. He created his suit in a cave with some scraps. He made a new element. It's reasonable for him to be aware of his own intelligence."

It took a moment for Steve to respond, having never quite realized the true genius of Stark. That didn't mean he still didn't have issues with him. "Being that smart doesn't give him the right to talk down on us and speak so fast that you get lost."

"I don't think it's intentional," Natasha responded pensievely. "Can't you see that his brain genuinely works that fast? I've watched him think through problems before, it's pretty amazing. I actually think he talks the way he does because he assumes we can keep up. So if you really think about it, he doesn't think we're stupid, just the opposite."

Steve stared at her dumbfounded. "You're trying to tell me that Stark talks to us like that because he considers us equals?" That didn't even seem possible.

"I don't know if you've ever seen Stark interact with his friends, but that's pretty much how he talks to all of them, they've just learned to keep up. And when he talks to people he considers below him by a lot in intelligence, he's more controlled." Natasha had studied Stark long enough to have a pretty good handle on him.

"Okay, but Howard didn't talk like that to us." Steve was grasping for reasons to be bitter with Stark.

"I… think Howard is part of why he's like this. From what I understand, they didn't have a good relationship." Natasha didn't elaborate on what she meant.

"What does that have to do with it?" Steve questioned.

Bruce stepped up to answer again. "Tony spent the beginning of his life trying to prove himself. It makes sense that he still does it, intentionally or not."

Thor spoke for the first time, stating, "Similar to my brother, I believe Stark to want to be seen as better than he feels he is, in a search for approval."

Steve felt lost. He had been so sure that he understood the kind of man Tony Stark was, but all of his opinions seemed to have been cleanly shut down. He was staring at a spot on the floor in concentration as he thought it over when Tony walked back into the room. He didn't seem to sense anything off in the room as he went into a long-winded explanation of what he had figured out. Finally, Steve had enough of being confused and cut him off, "Stark I haven't understood a word you said."

"Oh. Sorry, Cap. Sometimes I forget you're not quite up with the times." Steve was about to make a bitter retort when Tony restarted his explanation, throwing in background information and whatever he thought Steve might need to know to understand what he was actually talking about. Steve was still lost, but finally realized that Natasha might have had a point.

Maybe Tony Stark wasn't really an ass at all.


End file.
